BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TO VOTE ON SUPERVISOR WIENER’S CAR-SHARE LEGISLATION

At today's San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Scott Wiener's legislation to expand car-share parking availability - and to remove counter-productive obstacles in the Planning Code - will be voted on by the full Board. If approved, the legislation will amend the Planning Code to allow residential developers to include publicly accessible car-sharing parking spaces that won't count against current parking control levels.

"Our current laws discourage developers from adding car-sharing spots to new developments," said Supervisor Wiener. "By passing this legislation, we can improve our city-wide car-sharing program, which, in addition to having great Muni and cab service, is essential to being a transit-first city."

In many parts of the city, developers are limited to fewer parking spots than the number of housing units, frequently one parking spot per two housing units, in order to promote alternatives to car ownership. Yet, under current law, car-sharing spots are lumped in with this number of spaces. This failure to distinguish car-sharing spots from private vehicle spots is counter-productive in that the City is making it difficult for people to own cars while also making it difficult for them to have access to car-sharing. Supervisor Wiener's legislation helps resolve that difficulty by making it easier to include car-sharing spots above and beyond the City's strict maximum parking limits.

"Many traditional locations for car-sharing spots, like gas stations and surface parking lots, are being developed," said Supervisor Wiener. "By encouraging developers to include more car-sharing spots in their developments, we can avert what will be a car-sharing availability crisis."

Supervisor Wiener's legislation allows for a limited number of additional car-sharing spots that won't count against parking maximums. It also allows the developer to replace any car-sharing spots that previously existed at the site, for example, if the site was a parking lot or gas station with a car-sharing pod. To qualify for the additional car-sharing spots, the developer must show a letter of intent from a registered car-sharing provider to use the parking spaces. In addition, the

At today's San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Scott Wiener's legislation to expand car-share parking availability - and to remove counter-productive obstacles in the Planning Code - will be voted on by the full Board. If approved, the legislation will amend the Planning Code to allow residential developers to include publicly accessible car-sharing parking spaces that won't count against current parking control levels.

"Our current laws discourage developers from adding car-sharing spots to new developments," said Supervisor Wiener. "By passing this legislation, we can improve our city-wide car-sharing program, which, in addition to having great Muni and cab service, is essential to being a transit-first city."

In many parts of the city, developers are limited to fewer parking spots than the number of housing units, frequently one parking spot per two housing units, in order to promote alternatives to car ownership. Yet, under current law, car-sharing spots are lumped in with this number of spaces. This failure to distinguish car-sharing spots from private vehicle spots is counter-productive in that the City is making it difficult for people to own cars while also making it difficult for them to have access to car-sharing. Supervisor Wiener's legislation helps resolve that difficulty by making it easier to include car-sharing spots above and beyond the City's strict maximum parking limits.

"Many traditional locations for car-sharing spots, like gas stations and surface parking lots, are being developed," said Supervisor Wiener. "By encouraging developers to include more car-sharing spots in their developments, we can avert what will be a car-sharing availability crisis."

Supervisor Wiener's legislation allows for a limited number of additional car-sharing spots that won't count against parking maximums. It also allows the developer to replace any car-sharing spots that previously existed at the site, for example, if the site was a parking lot or gas station with a car-sharing pod. To qualify for the additional car-sharing spots, the developer must show a letter of intent from a registered car-sharing provider to use the parking spaces. In addition, the car-sharing spaces cannot be restricted to residents of the building, and the developer has to record a deed restriction limiting the spaces to car-sharing. If the spaces ever stop being used for car-sharing - for example, if the car-sharing service pulls out and cannot be replaced - the spaces can be converted to bike parking or storage but not to automobile parking. Finally, only those developments that do not seek permission to expand the number of private parking spaces provided will be eligible for increased car-share parking space.